How it all happened (revised)

Qian Chenghe's situation was rather complicated.

First, he was not nearly as old as he looked. After all, he had a two-star disguise talent. His current appearance was only a disguise; otherwise, he would not have told Lin Zhengping during their argument that he still had decades left to live.

He was also a wanted criminal, one who had swindled and cheated people and even murdered his own father.

Everything Xia Xu had just said to him had come from the Guanyin Statue's backstory.

Of course, he had filled in some gaps and exaggerated a little. Although the synopsis focused on the history behind this overlooked treasure, its account was fairly brief. He had expanded on it with reasonable deductions, which was how he had dealt Qian Chenghe such a devastating blow.

Still, his words did not deserve all the credit.

The fact that Qian Chenghe had thought to buy his father a Buddhist statue after making money showed that he still cared about him to some degree. At least, he had not reached the point of disowning his own family.

His subsequent act of patricide might largely have stemmed from humiliation turning into rage and a moment of impulse. Of course, that only explained the cause. He was still worse than an animal.

He was actually on the run now, but according to the plot of The Dying Man, he had risked being discovered by returning to his hometown to retrieve this Guanyin Statue. Yet after putting it in his current home, he had been tormented day and night, which was why he had decided to sell it off.

His actions made it clear that he still felt guilt and remorse. He had simply kept finding excuses to avoid facing them.

When Xia Xu finally stripped away that last cover, leaving him nowhere to hide, he also learned that his father's treasured possession had actually been Angong Niuhuang Pills intended to save his life. The excuses he had used to deceive himself and insist that he had done "nothing wrong" could no longer hold up. In the end, he broke down completely.

"...I'll buy them."

A long time passed before Qian Chenghe had cried himself out-or perhaps he had simply lost all hope.

Once his emotions settled, he struggled to speak and pushed his upper body upright. Looking dazed and desolate, he took a bank card from his pocket. "There should be a little over five hundred thousand in this account. The PIN is six sixes. It wasn't opened under my ID, so you can withdraw the money without worrying."

After saying that, he slowly placed the card on the ground. Then he stopped looking at Xia Xu and the others and began gathering the fragments of the Guanyin Statue with slow, wooden movements, like an old man on the verge of death. He paid no attention even as the shards sliced bloody cuts into his hands.

"So generous?"

Xia Xu bent down and picked up the bank card without hesitation.

Qian Chenghe did not answer immediately. After a brief silence, he said listlessly, "If you could dig up something from over ten years ago in such detail, you must have come here for me, right? I probably won't get to use it again in this lifetime anyway."

"You're not stupid. Your guess is a little off, but the outcome's the same."

Xia Xu took out his notebook and pen from earlier and spoke as he wrote. "Unfortunately, if you're trying to ease your guilt this way, it won't do much good. And don't you think you're just deceiving yourself again? If you knew it would come to this, why do it in the first place?"

"Have you ever drowned? Someone sinking underwater will grab at even a straw with everything they have."

Their somber conversation finally ended in mutual silence.

"I prefer legitimate transactions. You don't mind signing something else, do you?"

Before long, Xia Xu finished writing and handed over the new sales agreement.

Qian Chenghe did not refuse. He signed it, then pressed a fingerprint onto it with the blood on his hand.

However, he did not return the notebook to Xia Xu. Instead, he tore out the newly signed agreement and slipped it into the inner breast pocket of his jacket, pressing it against his chest. Only then did he write out an identical copy and hand it to Xia Xu.

Xia Xu put the notebook away. Seeing that Qian Chenghe had no intention of running, he went over to Xia Xue first and handed her the box of Angong Niuhuang Pills he had originally used to provoke Qian Chenghe. "Here. This is to thank you for last time. Also, I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"This is..."

Xia Xue was at a loss.

She had indeed been furious when Xia Xu spoke up for the swindler, especially since he was someone she had helped before. The hurt and indignation of feeling that her kindness had been wasted were almost impossible to describe.

But Xia Xu's subsequent actions had shown her that things were not what she had thought. At the very least, he was not really on the old swindler's side.

Lin Zhengping volunteered an explanation. "Young lady, these Angong Niuhuang Pills can work wonders for unconscious patients. You said earlier that your grandfather was hospitalized with a cerebral hemorrhage, didn't you? This medicine might help."

"I...I'll pay you."

Xia Xue felt that accepting a gift over such a small favor was inappropriate, but her grandfather's condition clearly mattered more. After only the slightest hesitation, she accepted the box and held it tightly against her chest.

"There's no rush to pay. His treatment can't wait, so hurry and take it to your grandfather. Ask the doctor whether he can use it first."

Xia Xu shook his head with a smile.

Hearing that, Xia Xue could hardly stay a moment longer. Filled with worry and anxious hope, she rushed off, though she still insisted on getting his contact information before leaving.

With Xia Xue taken care of, Lin Zhengping hurried over next, looking expectantly at Xia Xu.

"I can't give yours away for free, sir. This is a small business, and you don't look like someone who's short of that little bit of money."

Xia Xu teased him with a smile.

Lin Zhengping's title was rather impressive. As chairman of the Star City Antique Association, he could hardly be strapped for cash.

Besides, Angong Niuhuang Pills were not actually outrageously expensive. On Blue Ocean Star, there had been no particular incident that led to frenzied, exaggerated hype. Depending on age, condition, and similar factors, actual sale prices for Angong Niuhuang Pills were only in the tens of thousands. For this kind of cardboard-box packaging, the market price topped out at a little over ten thousand.

It took little effort to settle the deal. Lin Zhengping readily bought five pills from Xia Xu and insisted on keeping his promise, paying a full thirty thousand per pill.

"I'm sorry, boss. I was wrong. I nearly ruined everything for you."

Seeing that Xia Xu had finished talking with Lin Zhengping, Yang Bowen hesitated for a while before walking over, his face filled with mortified shame.

His boss had started looking for this old man from the construction site long ago and knew all about his crimes, right down to what was hidden inside the statue in his possession. He must have planned to catch the old man and make some money along the way, upholding justice while turning a profit.

But Yang Bowen's impulsiveness had nearly ruined all of it.

Especially now that he knew what the Angong Niuhuang Pills could do, waves of fear washed over him at what might have happened.

After all, this "miracle medicine" recovered from the Guanyin Statue could affect the treatment of both Mr. Lin's wife and that young woman's grandfather.

Since his boss had known in advance that the statue contained it, he must have planned to buy it and then give or sell the medicine to them. That way, both patients might improve.

But if Yang Bowen had really driven the old swindler away or taken him straight to the police station, those two people might have died as a result.

After all, the young woman had confronted the old man almost as soon as he set up his stall, and he had learned that he had nearly caused her grandfather's death. Once he left, he would surely have fled that very night, making him almost impossible to find again.

As for handing him over to the police, given his crimes, the old man would certainly never get out again. Even if the goods on his stall were not confiscated as evidence, they could not possibly end up in their hands. And even if they could obtain them through some channel, who knew how long it would take? How could someone with a stroke and someone with a cerebral hemorrhage afford to wait?

Wait, could this be why the boss kept stressing that it had to be a legitimate transaction?

Yang Bowen suddenly recalled that, whether buying the statue or buying the statue, his boss had kept emphasizing a "legitimate transaction" and insisted on signing a contract.

His boss probably had never intended to let the old swindler go in the first place. He would definitely hand him over to the police. All the effort he had put into playing along, buying the statue, and signing a sales agreement had likely been preparation for that.

After all, without completing a normal transaction beforehand, the statue might be classified as stolen property or evidence once the old swindler reached the police station. At the very least, it would still be the old man's property and could not be given to them.

(The last four chapters were written in something of a rush. I hadn't worked out the plot structure properly, so several things weren't explained in time, and the feedback on the plot wasn't very good either. I've made a few revisions, mainly to the narrative structure, and removed the part where Yang Bowen questioned things. Otherwise, there aren't many changes. You can choose to reread them or keep following the updates; it won't affect your reading.)

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